Buying a new car can be a daunting task at the best of times, but especially if you’re a student in full time studies. Worry not. If you’re a student and you’re hunting for a new car this article will give you all the best tips you need to find the car for you.
1 – Know Your Budget
Student life ain’t easy, especially if you’re paying for it yourself. You need to figure out how much money you can realistically afford to spend on a car and make sure you stick to it. If that means you need to lower your standards a bit then you’re just going to have to accept that. Especially with student car loans, you’re looking for something to get you around the city, not your dream car.
Remember that your budget also needs to include the costs after you buy the car. Maintenance, fuel and of course Insurance. A cheap car might end up costing you more in the long run in maintenance costs.
Don’t just do this in your head. Make an actual budget. Start a new Excel document (or Google sheet if you need a free alternative) and track all of your costs in a month, see how much you have left for car upkeep and keep that number in mind as you shop around.
2 – Figure Out How You’re Going to Pay
This is going to have a great effect on both how large your budget can be and the quality of the car you’re going to be able to get. Trying to get a loan as a student is going to be tricky. It’s possible but you’re going to end up with a high interest rate since you’ve most likely got almost no credit history.
You can mitigate this problem by having a co-signer, like a parent (although make sure this person has a good credit score first). This can help lower the interest rate. Or you can save up and just buy the car with cash, although that’s obviously going to affect the class of car you’ll be able to get.
3 – Never Go Alone
Unless you’re an expert in cars you’re going to want someone there who’s more experienced than you are at buying cars. Whenever you go out to look at a car, be it a local dealership or just some car you saw online, bring someone else with you. Someone more likely to catch anything suspicious.
This also goes for the negotiations. Don’t be too proud to let someone more experienced than you do the talking, as long as this person knows exactly what you want and how much you’re willing to spend.
4 – Make Sure You Need a Car
You may be reading through this and starting to get worried. That’s good, student car loans are not a simple prospect. Before going forward, take a second to reflect on if you definitely need a car, or if you just really want one, that too is an important thing to know. And is going to affect what kind of car you should get.
If you can live, work and study using public transport and walking then it’s worth considering if now is the right time to be thinking about a car at all. There’s always cars for sale and you’ll always be able to get one later. I know this might not be the answer you want (I’ve been there!), but it might be the right one!
Thanks for reading! If you’re ready to finance a student car loan near Brantford Ontario, we’d love to help with that! Click here to get started.